Well, Johns, Iggy, and Livers sure aren’t. Brooks is a 1, and I would have to assume he stays there. I guess he could potentially scoot over, I just don’t see it being that great of a fit. That leaves… Ibi and Nunez. This of course predicated on Poole and Matthews starting.
If Ibi and or Nunez are not ready JB will figure out someone else to back up at 2. Not ideal but Brooks, Matthews might be better options. Dejulius or Iggy might even be better options. Definitely a wait and see sort of thing. From what I have seen Ibi’s ball handling is worse than everybody on that short list except for maybe Nunez (not sure).
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Is it widely accepted that Iggy could not play the 2? I honestly thought his game was more a 6’8" shooting guard than a small ball power forward.
Iggy thinks he’s a two. Most people that watch him thinks he’s a perfect small ball four.
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I disagree. Brooks and DeJulius were recruited to play both guard positions, and I think will. Small ball getting smaller.
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I would be surprised personally, but we’ll see soon enough.
Beilein’s presser was pretty explicit where he thinks the game is going under its current configuration, and what kind of guards he wants on his roster. Simpson, Brooks, DeJulius weren’t brought in three classes in a row to be strictly PG’s.
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Id guess Poole starts and, for likelihood for backup minutes at SG: CM sliding to 2 > Brooks > Nunez > Ibi. Mostly because CM already leads our team in mpg, this year; and I’d guess getting more minutes for Livers, Johns, Iggy will be more effective than minutes for Brooks, Nunez, Ibi, especially if the 3 forwards can shoot 36ish% from 3
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I also just want to throw out there that I fully expect Poole to be playing close to 35 minutes per game next year so the backup minutes will hopefully not be too big of a deal no matter who ends up getting them. I know everyone keeps saying SG is our weakest spot and maybe that’s true from a depth perspective but it’s very possible that Jordan Poole is our leading scorer and primary playmaker next year.
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Poole our top scorer next year? Possible, but he has to pass Matthews, Simpson and Wagner.
I’m probably higher on Poole than just about anyone I know so I assume I’m in the minority here…but Wagner if he comes back is the only one I would feel comfortable saying will outscore Poole in a bigger role. Certainly all the names you mentioned could outscore him and Matthews would probably be the favorite but I’m optimistically anticipating a huge jump from JP when given the opportunity next year. He’s gonna be special in ball screens, late shot clock situations and just shooting off the dribble in general. He should be able to excel in every area that is a current weakness for this year’s offense.
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Poole’s points/minute are the highest on the team of regular contributors. Simpson isn’t really close.
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Interesting. I wouldn’t have thought that after the last few games. I appreciate what you bring to the table with your often very thoughtful posts, UMHoops.
I am just quietly praying that we keep Wagner around for another year.
It would be nice to keep both Wagner and Matthews (and I don’t think Matthews looks like a huge threat to leave at this point), but if they both stay, who goes? Watson and Davis are the most obvious candidates to be eased out the door.
Agree that those would be my top 2 candidates as well, but there are still a lot of dominoes to fall and who knows if there is some discontent elsewhere in the background from someone else,
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What are you thinking all of these other “dominoes” are going to be? As noted, Matthews is the only other guy on the roster with even a remote chance of leaving early for the NBA, and unless something changes drastically, I think that will remain a not-too-likely possibility 6 weeks from now. Lacking that, who on the team other than Davis and Watson would be getting the feeling that they don’t have much playing time in their future?
As I was recently reminded, Jon Horford transferred to Florida prior to a season where he could have had all of the PT he wanted.
True, but he was also a grad transfer, which changes things somewhat. No one currently on the roster is in that situation.
Jon’s problems were existential, as the philosopher himself admitted. 
Would have to admit that I still have almost no idea whether Davis can be a contributor.
I think there could be a multitude of things, but the most specific thing that I had in mind was how players break-out the rest of the season or get hurt. Hypothetical situation: Teske goes down with an injury against NW, Davis gets some serious time, he adjusts to the speed of the game and shows real promise. That would certainly be a change that happens. It is also possible that someone has a break-out last half to the B1G season that changes dynamics (like Walton did last year). I am not predicting any specific situation, but more just speaking to the fact that there is still a lot of basketball and season to be played which will have a real influence.
Edit: Also, think of how it might feel to be a freshman, begin the season by starting and now only play a few spot minutes here and there. Also, there are more 2018 kids coming in to try and steal your spot. You never know what is going on in a kids head and how he will react
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